Britney's Attorneys Bail After Depo No-Show

Wed., Jan. 2, 2008 3:05 PM PST by Natalie Finn

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

That's the reason the attorneys who have been representing Britney Spears in her ongoing custody case are asking to be relieved as her counsel, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

"There has been a breakdown in communications between Petitioner and Trope & Trope making further representation of her interests impossible," reads the motion filed on behalf of the pop star's main legal man, Sorrell Trope.

No further explanation for the requested split was given, but it reportedly happened to occur on the same day Spears missed her latest appointment to be deposed by Kevin Federline's legal camp, a sit-down that's been in the works for some time.

She missed her last scheduled appearance Dec. 12, blaming anxiety and physical illness. In a subsequent emergency hearing, K-Fed attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan, armed with photographic evidence, noted to the court commissioner overseeing the custody case that Spears apparently was doing well enough to go out later that night.

"It's not fourth grade, where you get a doctor's note and it's all okay," Kaplan told People last weekend, adding that he was looking to get Spears' deposition underway in early 2008.

Trope's firm has been on Spears' side since she parted ways with attorney Laura Wasser in September.

But the Beverly Hills-based family laywer told People he hasn't yet joined the club of Spears' ex-attorneys. He has to wait and see what the judge says first.

"A lawyer cannot simply withdraw from a case," Trope said. "We will ask the court to relieve us, which will be heard within a month's time." Meanwhile, the papers informing his soon-to-be ex-client of his decision are in the mail, according to the motion filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

It's unclear how this shakeup will affect the custody proceedings. Kaplan could not yet be reached for comment.

In other legal news, Spears' trial on a misdemeanor vehicle infraction has been postponed until Jan. 25, but as far as we know, the "Toxic" singer still has counsel lined up to represent her during those proceedings.